[LM24] 2012 Le Mans Dates (16/17 June) - Who's Going + what/where/when

[Truckosaurus]

On the subject of the tunnel, one of our party were booked on the freight part with their vw transporter. There were 5 hour delays so they booked a last minute ferry. Hopefully it is back to normal of Sunday night as I have to be at work on Monday morning.

[Aysedasi]

Well, we're off the the circuit in a few minutes. Sky is brighter than it was an hour ago, but we still have some light precipitation. I won't be on here again until after the race - so all those who are here, have a great time and at least try to watch some of the race at night! For those back at home, watching and listening on whatever you are, I hope you really enjoy it too!

[Osella]

Originally Posted by chunder

There are times when I don't like being a motorsport fan.

Like this morning when the 50 year old yuppie and his mate, obviously on their way to "the Great!! race" in a Ferari 430 decided to do what you see 18 years olds doing in Corsa or a Skyline with a dump valve.

And that is of course sitting back in traffic in the Hatfield tunnel traffic and then accelerating towards the white van repeatedley! To the collective noise of "Co*k"from all and sundry, I do hope he heard us all.

I was amused to sail past later on as he queued to get on the M25 in my Fabia with the ring sticker on the back!

Sadly, I know there would be thousands of people like this there thins weekend, and at Goodwood, and F1, and various other places!

Good luck to all of you and you yearly trek to the GREAT race Hope you enjoy the Co**ks as much as I do!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3066115...in/photostream

[Truckosaurus]

With all the talk of reduced spectator numbers, another sign is that we had the quickest ever exit from the site after the race, barely any queue to get onto the dual carriageway at the football stadium, and then a clear run (no speeding, too many cops) to the tunnel by 1930. Just sat in the queue to board the train.

[Aysedasi]

We left moments after the cars crossed the line. We were parked in our hotel car park in 40 minutes - a journey that normally takes about 35 minutes........

[bella]

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

With all the talk of reduced spectator numbers, another sign is that we had the quickest ever exit from the site after the race, barely any queue to get onto the dual carriageway at the football stadium, and then a clear run (no speeding, too many cops) to the tunnel by 1930. Just sat in the queue to board the train.

same for us, we pottered around, went back to the van, tidied up, said our goodbyes, and cautiously left the campsite. to be greeted by empty roads.... we still had to wait till 2am for a ferry due to timetabling but that's a norfolkline/dfds trap i fall into every time i go away for the weekend!

i do think a lot of it is down to people staying the sunday night though. maison blanche was still 75% full when we left at about 6ish, maybe 30% of them were all packed up and having a beer before leaving.

[wewantourdarbyback]

I noticed a difference from Houx campsite. We leave it till today to head back, but last year I watched people queue for ages to get out of the site, this year there was no queue.

[vincegail]

I also saw a lot more empty spaces at Houx this year, which may explain why there was no queue!

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

We left moments after the cars crossed the line. We were parked in our hotel car park in 40 minutes - a journey that normally takes about 35 minutes........

You were gone when i made my Way down to the track 15:10

[Aysedasi]

Yep, we had decided to go as soon as the cars crossed the line. Last year it was murder getting out of parking blanc, but this year we were straight out....

I'm posting this from Costa on the M27 where James has just deposited me ready to be picked up by my son, another James.....

What a fantastic 9 days! A huge thank you from me to James for making this such a great Le Mans for me and to both he and Tony for the super company!

[isynge]

Tertre Rouge was considerably less full this year, but equally seemed to have a lot more people sticking around for the Sunday evening (maybe this was just a proportion thing).

Echo feel that the exit etc was a lot swifter, making me think the cunning routing through the Perche towards Evreux before tacking north may have been for nought (even if it did take us through some lovely bits of the world). By same token Carrefour at Calais this afternoon was pretty quiet, although the tunnel was as busy as I've ever seen it.

I'll be genuinely interested in what the crowd figures were for this year. On Saturday consensus seemed to be that it was well down on previous years, but eyeballing it, grandstands seemed full, the banking around the esses was full, and remained full until well into the night (to the extent I had to squabble for position at the far end of Tertre Rouge around 0200 or so), and walking along the tribunes at start finish at midnight it felt pretty full too.

Either way, was a cracking long weekend, which feels over far too quickly.

Roll on next year, or, at the very least, Donington and Silverstone.

[GT6]

Yes tertre rouge was slightly less full this year but when we arrived on Wednesday there were more there already than last year, very few arrivals on thursday and I did not see anyone looking for spots on friday this year

[spectre200]

I went into Le Mans town for a couple of hours on Saturday night (instead of the usual Friday) - something I haven't done for years. I remember it used to be really busy but this time it was eerily quiet - some of the restaurants where I used to be lucky to grab a table had only 4 or 5 tables occupied. Was something unusual going on and everyone went elsewhere, or was it just fewer people attending?

[Dani Filth]

we were planning to leave LeMans on Monday morning for our afternoon flights but we left actually Sunday evening for Paris but totally ignoring the highways .. if you're not in a hurry i highly recommend doing just that. it was brilliant going through all the villages on narrow roads avoiding wild rabbits crossing and we finally arrived in the outskirts of Paris around midnight.
will definitely doing something similar next year

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by spectre200

I went into Le Mans town for a couple of hours on Saturday night (instead of the usual Friday) - something I haven't done for years. I remember it used to be really busy but this time it was eerily quiet - some of the restaurants where I used to be lucky to grab a table had only 4 or 5 tables occupied. Was something unusual going on and everyone went elsewhere, or was it just fewer people attending?

Saturday night? Race night? Well I was watching the race......

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Saturday night? Race night? Well I was watching the race......

How weird

[spectre200]

It was a moment of weakness... I did my penance at Tertre Rouge all night while my hungry mate (who persuaded me to go to town) slept in the car.

Am I forgiven?

[Aysedasi]

Yeah sure.....